Angel Mine
by Ocianne
Summary: Jadeite's encounters of Rei in the present day, from before the Dark Kingdom to after Metallia's defeat. Because sometimes it takes time to find a happy ending. RJ, some SenShi and UM. Completed Oneshot with a bonus scene.
1. Angel Mine

Disclaimers: Writenn for the Forum's Summer 2006 Ficathon. Naoko owns them, I just mess with their heads...

– – – – –

_Angel Mine_

– – – – –

The first time Jadeite saw his angel, she was watching him from within a swirl of cherry buds. Admittedly, after the wind died down it became evident that she had her arms crossed and a frown, but she was still watching. Caught up in watching her watch him, he startled when she moved closer to him.

"Are you all right?" A child's voice, to go with her child's body, but even for a 5-year-old she lacked the sugary, cutesy pitch that so many of her ilk fostered.

"Uh…"

He swiped his eyes with the back of one hand, his other clutching a badly cut knee. He had been running to catch up with his little brother to watch the cherry trees blossom, and had slipped on a patch of wet grass. The war between his leg and an uncovered tree root left him soundly defeated, tears of pain rising unbidden.

"It's just my leg, I'll be ok in a minute…" He trailed off again as she clasped her hands behind her back and leaned forward to inspect the bloody appendage, nose only centimeters away. Despite the pressure he was applying, his fingers were slowly staining red.

"That's not good. Mama could take care of it, but she's still coming." She paused, deep in childish thought. He tried to keep up a brave face – after all, he was almost nine, and big boys _never_ cried in front of girls.

She moved again, hand reaching up to her hair. It was swept up into a ponytail, but she untied the maroon bow and let the long black strands fall freely about her shoulders. With a look of determination that countered her inexperienced hands, she wound the ribbon tightly around his cut.

"There," she declared with a satisfied expression. "That should help, but I don't think you should try running again."

"O-ok," he stuttered, feeling a blush start to rise. He felt a bit of a clumsy oaf. His only saving grace was that Zoi hadn't noticed him falling behind, and hadn't gained yet _more_ embarrassing ammunition to use against him. "'M sorry about your ribbon, and your hands."

"Oh!" She apparently hadn't noticed the red stains dotting the tips of her tiny fingers. Quickly glancing around (_for what? Or whom?_), she stuck the affected fingers in her mouth and rubbed her hands together, effectively removing all traces of blood.

"There, all better!" She grinned cheerfully at him. "Don't worry about the ribbon. Daddy buys me lots, more than Mama says I'll ever be able to wear."

He smiled back. "Thanks. What's your name? I'm —"

A cry of "Rei!" interrupted him, and his angel quickly turned.

"Mama!" She turned and ran towards the beautiful woman walking slowly up the path towards them, calling over her shoulder: "Bye! I hope you get better soon!"

He waved, even though she couldn't see him.

"Oi, there you are!" He looked up to see Zoi weaving around the grove's scattered trees, practically skipping with excitement. "What happened to you? You okay?"

"Yeah. Um, well…"

"Ah, never mind. Come one, I found a good spot. We don't want to lose it!"

Zoi took off again, grabbing one of his brother's wrists to drag him along. Amused, Jadeite followed his hyperactive younger sibling. He'd overheard his mom telling a friend about Zoi a couple days ago, talking about attention deficiency and over-focused something-or-other. It was supposed to explain why Zoi _bounced_ everywhere, and why he usually ignored anything that wasn't a gadget, a plant, or a book on either topic. Then again, she'd also said something about himself and Asp-burger's syndrome, which was weird. Maybe it was nothing.

"Slow down, Zoi!" His knee twinged, protesting at the pressure and movement.

"I'm sorry! Are you sure you're fine? If you need to I can call mom and she can — can come pick us up, and —"

Zoi was starting to droop, scuffing his shoe against the ground.

"Cut it out, shorty." He cuffed the smaller boy lightly. "I'm not dying or anything. I said I'd look after you so we could watch the cherry trees together, and I will. Just _walk_, ok?"

"Right!" Zoi gave a sloppy, childish salute, learned who knew where. "C'mon!"

Jadeite allowed himself to be led again, but he glanced back through the trees one last time, trying to catch another glimpse of black hair and laughing violet-black eyes.

"Bye… Rei."

– – – – –

The second time he saw his angel nearly ten years had passed, and he had already gone mad.

The memories of their first meeting were buried beneath a brainwashed haze of duty and obsession. He watched her while he put his latest scheme into action, because something about her made everything else nearby fade into the background. She seemed almost normal despite that, before a malcontent crowd began muttering against her character and her home, and she lost her temper.

"Go _home!_"

The sparks were beautiful. No one else could see, but threads of power began to swirl around her slender frame, fiery tendrils fairly glowing. The more sensitive people could sense a change in the air, and even the dullards saw the dangerous glow in her eyes. They wisely left, but he remained, fascinated.

What was this girl, who wore pain like a royal garment and who summoned power with only anger?

He stayed to watch her, stayed probably longer than was safe to remain in one place, but she was addictive, like a drug. When his mistress finally summoned him to return, he saw one last opportunity and called her to him. Initially he worried that she might break his influence when she fought against his bidding, but she did not anger, only wonder in the small part of her mind that no power of his could capture. Then she was asleep, and finally his.

In whatever small, sane part of his mind that remained, he should have known it was too good to last.

He had been followed, and when the annoying brats managed to wake her up, they told her she was one of _them_. Then to make things worse, they showed her how to summon her latent power, and she… changed. If he hadn't seen it happen, he would have sworn that she was a different girl, but somewhere through the disguising magic he could still see the same dangerous spark in her eyes.

Distracted by her, he failed to dodge a boomeranging attack and was pinned. His angel was furious with him and his schemes, and the invisible flames became reality.

"Fire Soul!"

His last thought, as the flames overtook him and consciousness faded, was that she was never more beautiful than when she was angry. But he wished she wouldn't cry.

…_Why_ was she crying?

– – – – –

The third time he saw his angel, he was dead, and sane once more.

His body was a charred skeleton resting in a dank marble hall, but his mind and soul remained tied to his home and his friends. He haunted them, unheard and unseen, but watching with a broken heart at what they had become. Then Nephrite died, and another skeleton joined his corpse while the spirit — after taking a moment to adjust to the idea of an incorporeal existence — joined him in watching.

Zoi carried out the orders now, still obsessed with gadgetry. Jadeite had picked up the habit of visiting the traces of his brother's energy scattered throughout the city, to see the intended victims. Nephrite preferred to watch the boy himself, trying to keep him out of trouble. They had found that sometimes a well-timed whisper could stir parts of the unconscious mind, a warning in the form of a hunch. The other man's less familiar voice seemed to reach Zoi better. Jadeite had smiled at that; his brother was too used to ignoring his own advice from when they had been growing up together.

As he homed in on his latest target, he realized that the streets were looking familiar… he paused in the middle of the sidewalk, ignoring the people who unknowingly walked through his ghostly form. She was here.

He had memories of both meetings this time, the good and the bad. He was certain that the girl of innocent memory had held the same fire-spark in her violet eyes as the girl who set him free. There was also the third, older set of memories, which began so well but the end of which haunted his daymares.

But nothing in memory could compare to seeing her in person.

She sat at a grand piano with a vase of Casablanca flowers atop it, slim fingers caressing the keys in a bittersweet melody, eyes closed and face uplifted in such a way that he could almost see her memories with her.

She was still beautiful, but she was sad, should never be sad, his heart ached to see her cry…

He rested beside her on the piano bench, intangible fingers brushing at her tears. "I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you," he whispered.

Impossibly, she seemed to hear. "Kai — no, who?" Fingers paused and liquid eyes opened, looking for her invisible visitor. "I know that voice," she whispered to the air.

He belatedly remembered that her sixth sense remained strong; it just wasn't strong enough to do more than hear him faintly now. Not daring to speak again, not when the only memory of him that she had was of when he had been insane, he simply watched her become lost in thought.

"Oh, what am I _doing_?" she cried, frustrated. "Something's wrong." She glared about her, looking for discrepancies, until sharp eyes rested upon his brother's latest device, a music box. "_You._"

He almost laughed as her tears vanished beneath a wave of calm fury. Flames rose to her command once more and the dark object shattered. Not satisfied, she went in search of the source while he followed behind, reveling in her vibrancy. He worried for a moment when he recognized Zoi through one of his disguises, but his angel focused only on the energy-trap nearby.

"_Evil spirit, be gone!_"

Simple, direct, and effective. Bounty destroyed, Zoi vanished before her attention turned to him. Jadeite breathed a sigh of relief, though he wasn't sure for whom. His angel was strong, but Zoi was treacherous in a fight — and though he was glad to see Zoi living, he wasn't sure if all four of them weren't better off dead.

– – – – –

The fourth time he saw his angel, Zoisite died. His ghost joined them, and they waited for something to happen. Everything was coming to a head, now.

– – – – –

The fifth time he saw his angel, he found his prince — ToolateToolateOhGod_Endymion!_

He lunged, knowing he would never catch him, weeping as the shiver of flesh through spirit taunted him with failure. Then Kunzite appeared quicker than thought, and retreated to the old castle with their master's limp body.

He was about to follow, but something made him pause, and turn. She was there, holding her devastated princess and whispering nonsense words of comfort. Her eyes, however, were glaring daggers at the point where Kunzite disappeared, staring right through him.

Unable to face her, even when she could not see him, he fled to familiar stone halls.

– – – – –

The sixth time he saw his angel, he heard her die.

Anchored in a stone, grieving for his mind-enslaved prince, he stood guarding his master's heart with his brothers, and felt his soul stone crack as it stopped stone harder than diamond through sheer willpower. In the ethereal equivalent of a half-conscious haze, he listened to events unfold from within the dark miasma of the great enemy.

Eventually, from some place outside, the faintest of voices penetrated, and he heard her call upon her guardian power, sacrificing her flames and her self to give her princess power. Then, to his astonishment, a short time later he heard her voice again, much closer.

"Princess! Sailor Moon! _Usagi! _Stop crying and _fight!_" His eyes flew open, pushing away the pull of returning to his soul stone. She stood with the other girls not ten feet away, trying be heard while nothing more than a transparent spirit that was unwilling to let go life and move on. She spoke again, quieter. "I just gave you everything. Don't you remember when I said I had better things to do with my time than this? You changed my mind. So please—" Her voice cracked, and tears started to fall. "Please, Usagi, show me that I made the right decision!"

He moved unconsciously, at her side before his self-preservation instincts could kick in. "Shh, it'll be all right," he whispered, fingers reaching towards transparent skin and tears. They connected with a small shock, and she gasped and turned, her eyes meeting his. After a moment frozen in time, his hindbrain finally made an appearance, and he backed away, apologies tripping over each other in his hurry to say them.

"Sorry, shouldn't have done that, just ignore me, I'll go away—"

"Jadeite?" His name fell from her lips, but it was almost a question, not an exclamation of hatred or loathing. He paused, perplexed, watching her with just the slightest hint of fear. He had made the first (albeit idiotic and rash) move; now everything was up to her.

"Jadeite!" Two steps, and she held him in a desperate, bone-crushing hug. His arms automatically folded around her, and for a moment he let his mind go blank with the sheer unexpected bliss of being able to touch her once more. Slowly, he became aware that she was speaking.

"I'm sorry I killed you again, I didn't remember you, and you were trying to hurt Usagi and Ami, I know you couldn't help it, it doesn't matter any more—"

He silenced her with a finger against her lips, a slight smile on his face. "We're going about this rather badly, don't you think?"

She blinked, and after a moment she smiled back at him. A large, male part of his brain melted into incoherency. "I suppose you're right. We're both being unusually apologetic. You don't seem to be holding a grudge against me, and I can't bring myself to be particularly angry with you, so we're even. But… what's going on?"

He turned to watch their respective charges, an arm still around her shoulders. He never wanted to let her go. Briefly, he explained the past several months from his point of view, and the current situation of Endymion's Shitennou.

"Then what happens now?" She reached out in a futile gesture, fingers passing through one of the golden buns on her princess' head. A princess who was drying her tears, a fiercely determined expression settling on her young face. "I can't believe I found you again, there's so much to say — but I can't stay here. She needs us, and we also need her, like flowers in the sun. We gave her our all, and now she simply needs to use it." She looked up at him, her face more peaceful than he had seen in a long time. "I believe in her. Even our deaths won't stop her, and once she goes to work, everything will turn out all right."

"If you believe in her, I believe in you. When she does win, though, what will happen after?"

His angel shook her head. "I'm not sure. But... will you promise me something?"

He looked down at her, surprised. "Promises can be broken, we know that all too well."

"Please?"

"…If I can, I will."

She bit her lip anxiously. "If we're separated again, if something goes wrong when Usagi tries to fix everything — please, promise you'll find me again?"

He took one of her hands in his. "I promise, no matter what happens, if it's within my power I'll always find you again. Even if I don't know that you're you, and you don't know that I'm me, I'll see you again someday."

Tears of gratitude shone in her eyes, but as she opened her mouth to reply, a blindingly white light blazed around them. There was a brief, deafening _silence_, followed by an ominous rumble, deep and long, from what sounded like somewhere far off.

Then he felt something pull her from where he held her in his arms, and the tug from his soul stone became suddenly unbearable. The white light began to fade, enough that he could see her again, but he saw that she was fading too.

"I knew Usagi's heart wouldn't be able to leave us dead," she whispered, growing fainter by the second. "I'll wait for you, even if I don't remember this place. You'll always be in my heart. I promise…"

"Rei!" He cried, because he couldn't do anything else, couldn't stop her, couldn't fight, slowly succumbing himself to the call his stone, and the sleep that waited there. The last thing he heard before oblivion claimed him was the echo of her voice.

_I promise…_

– – – – –

– – – – –

_In the not-too-distant future…_

Summer had arrived, and with it came the requisite trip to the seaside. Minako wove her cherry-red convertible through the parking lot, eyes on the lookout for a space nearest the sand. Rei assisted from the front passenger seat, while in the back Makoto and Ami continued the argument they'd been having for the last ten minutes: Whether quantum physics constituted appropriate beachside reading, and whether romance novels counted as literature at all.

"All right, everybody out!" Minako commanded, whipping into a space inches ahead of a car coming the opposite direction. "We… have arrived!"

"And you can take the actress out of the theater, but you can't take the drama queen out of the girl," Rei sniped in a cheerful sort of way, pushing her sunglasses up her forehead with a smirk.

"I resemble that remark." Minako grinned, and like any good leader, began to delegate. "All right, you and Mako take the ice chest, Ami, take the chairs and a bag, and I'll bring the umbrella and the other bag. Usagi said to meet by the ice cream vendors. Company, forward!"

Brandishing the giant umbrella like a spear, Minako led the way through the crowd of people. The girls followed her directions to claim as much ground as she deemed necessary for the day, and essentially set up their base of operations. Towels were spread out and sunscreen applied; applause was given for Ami's new and unusually daring tube-top bikini ("You'll catch a guy today for sure, Ami!" Minako crowed); and Makoto pulled the other three into a game of catch as they waited for their habitually tardy princess.

Twenty minutes later Usagi ran up slightly out of breath, arms full of towels. "Sorry we're late," she managed after their customary greetings. "Mamoru and the guys are bringing the rest."

"Guys?" Rei quirked an eyebrow suspiciously. This was a new development.

"Ehehehe… Didn't I mention them?" A sheepish grin crept onto Usagi's face, decided it liked the scenery, and camped there. "They're friends from his university. I thought since they never have much opportunity to spend time together off-campus, today would be a good opportunity."

Minako draped an arm around Usagi's shoulders, a sly and calculating gleam in her eyes. "And if you can use them to get the rest of us married off like you, that would just be an added bonus?"

"Minako!" Ami was blushing. For being a university student, she was sensitive as ever to the touchy subject of boys. As far as Rei knew, love letters still made the poor girl break out in a rash and fever. She decided to take pity on Ami's shyness – given the way Usagi's mind worked, there were probably four of them, and that could be a bit overwhelming.

"Come on, Ami. Since Usagi's finally decided to grace us with her presence, we can hit the water now." She flashed a triumphant smile at Usagi's pout. "You can introduce us later, ne?"

"All right, we'll wait here," Makoto responded, waving them away. "Go play mermaids for a while, if you think it's more interesting than a bunch of hot guys."

"Indubitably." Ami gave them all a small grin, good humor returning at the thought of a reprieve. "You're welcome to join us, if you think you can catch up."

"No showing off just because you were captain of the swim team!" Minako called after Ami's retreating back. All she got in return was a nonchalant wave.

"It really makes you wonder how she's become so confident about nearly everything _except_ boys," Rei mused to the others, then followed Ami into the ocean.

After a few hours of swimming and a splash war or two, Rei headed back to dry off and tan. She found Ami already there, reading in the shade of the umbrella, and the two girls spent a while enjoying the day in silence. Rei had started to doze when a shadow blocked the sun, the sudden cool pulling her back to consciousness.

"Are you Rei?"

Rei peered at her visitor over the top of her sunglasses. Sandy blond, blue-eyed, and lightly tanned, he looked like he should have had a surfboard attached at the hip. He wore a hopeful smile, which was amusing, but to his credit his eyes hadn't drifted below her face since he'd spoken.

"Yes, and you are?"

He extended a hand. "Aidan, one of Mamoru's friends. He sent me down here because we're short a volleyball player, and thought you might like to join us."

"Practice, or a real game?"

"A real game, but four against four — if you play, that is."

Ami smiled at Rei's inquiring gaze. "Go on, I'll watch our stuff."

Aidan took the opportunity to peer at the title of Ami's book. "_White Holes, Black Holes and Quantum_?" His face broke into a dazzling grin. "You have _got_ to meet my brother. Come on, we're just down the beach. Your gear can look after itself for a while." Ami appeared unconvinced, until he pulled out his trump card. "Shouldn't you at least cheer on your friends?"

"Um… all right, I suppose." She still looked slightly nervous, but Rei supposed that to Ami meeting one guy at a time was far better than all four at once.

"Great!" He held out a hand to help first Rei, then Ami up — A gentleman, Rei thought amusedly, and despite being male he hasn't actively hit on me yet — and they headed toward the volleyball net.

"Mamoru, we have our fourth!" He announced triumphantly. Rei waved to the other girls, and Usagi beckoned from where she and Mamoru stood on one side of the net. Makoto and Minako waited on the other side, chatting with two young men who Rei assumed were more of Mamoru's friends.

Aidan led Ami away with a promise of his quick return, and Mamoru took the opportunity to introduce Rei to Kael and Nikolai. She gave both a nod of greeting, and then looked them up and down in cool assessment.

"Mamoru, is this your idea of even teams?"

Both mean were at least six feet tall, and not even Nikolai's long ponytail or Kael's shorter one detracted from their _very_ masculine physiques. Combined with the volleyball-aficionado that was Minako and Makoto's status as a sports fiend in general, Rei felt rather outnumbered. Usagi was enthusiastic, Mamoru was good, and Aidan seemed decently athletic, but under no circumstances would she call this equal distribution of power.

Given the way Makoto had been smiling at Nikolai, and the fact the Minako seemed to have strategically adjusted her bikini, it looked much more like a distribution of hormones.

Makoto cracked her knuckles, a wicked grin on her face. "Going down, Rei!"

"You haven't beaten me yet, Mako," Rei shot back, "not even with Minako on your side. I've whipped you both before, and I'll do it again!"

She took her place beside Usagi amidst general laughter. Aidan trotted back onto the court, flashing another grin and pointing a thumb by the sidelines. Rei raised her eyebrows. Ami was engaged in conversation with an objectively handsome male, sans blush or rash and plus a shy, pretty smile.

"Impressive… I'd ask which you think will start citing from their respective texts first, but we have a game to play. Shall we?"

"Sure. Mamoru, serve the ball!"

The next few hours passed in a blur of sand, spiking, good-natured insults, and laughter.

Rei chatted amiably with Aidan between plays and through dinner, with their friends jumping in and out of the conversation. To her surprise, he knew a decent amount about literature and politics, though he admitted mathematics and business usually went over his head. In turn, he left her in the dust when the conversation turned to history, a phenomenon which Nikolai explained (whilst giving Aidan a thorough noogie) as a symptom of being a Geek of Old, Dead People.

"What does that mean?"

Aidan gave up on bringing any semblance of order back to his mussed hair. "I'm studying archaeology, but don't have an era-emphasis yet. I just read everything in the field I can get my hands on, and minor in history." He smiled. "And Nik turned me into a trivia nut like he is, so I'm a wealth of useless information."

That garnered him a laugh as she retrieved another soda and settled back down beside him on one of the towels. "Try double-majoring in ancient Japanese dialects and business administration sometime."

Blue eyes sparked. "You're doing that?"

"She's head of the archery team and involved in the drama department, too!" Makoto chimed in. "You should see the number of projects she's a part of."

"A woman of many talents, I see." He raised his water bottle. "I salute your ability to do so many things well."

She tapped her drink against his and they subsided into comfortable silence, listening to their friends banter and watching the sun sink beyond the horizon.

The day eventually came to a close. As they finished packing up, Aidan paused.

"Hey, Rei…"

"Hm?" She waited as he scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably.

"Look, I'm sure you know that this was a pretty obvious attempt by Usagi and a blackmailed Mamoru into pairing us up, but… would you be interested in seeing a movie sometime next week?"

Rei looked up at him thoughtfully. Intelligent, nice enough if occasionally gauche, and a sense of humor…

Somewhere behind Rei's thoughts, another violet-eyed girl watched through her eyes. An echo of memory brought a faint ghost of the past to mind, and she searched for an answering spark of recognition somewhere in his blue depths.

Maybe she found it, maybe she didn't. But Rei's lips curved in a genuinely pleased smile.

"I'd love to."

Fin.

– – – – –

AN: Apologies to the reader for the high level of non-romance content in this story. The other guys and girls kept talking about themselves while I was writing this, and wouldn't go away for the longest time. Especially Zoi. He chatters. ¬¬ To shut him up, I finally promised him a scene of his own, which is located in the companion piece to this story. Gaaaaah.

At first I was going to end this with Metallia's defeat, but Rei and Jadeite persisted in asking for their happy ending. Thus the beach scene was born, and it just kept growing. Sorry that there's not much WAFF, but the bunnies kept all the romance a bit low-key this time. People _don't _jump into each other's arms the first time the meet. Er, usually. And I figured that it would be interesting to write an R/J where the base of their relationship wasn't mutual sexual attraction, but a bond of the past and of friendship.

I also originally intended to bring the Shitennou back after the Senshi have recovered their memories, but the story's grain simply didn't flow that way. As for whether or not the boys remember… they didn't deign to say. I have no idea what circumstances led to their rebirth.

Ocianne

Competed 6/06, posted 9/06

– – – – –  



	2. Volleyball Encounters

– – – – –

Bonus Scene: Volleyball Encounters

– – – – –

"Hey, Zoi!" Aidan called, waving to a man sitting by the sidelines with, of all things, a closed book balancing on his head. He turned automatically at being addressed, causing the book to slide off into the sand. With a sigh he picked it up and attempted to brush as much sand off as he could.

"And this was a new book, too." His voice was a pleasant tenor, even when expressing annoyance.

"Then you shouldn't have put it where it can fall. Besides, what self-respecting guy brings a book on electrical engineering to the beach?"

"Is it the new one on theoretical applications for computer technology?" Ami immediately clapped a hand to her mouth, a deep blush suffusing her cheeks. She hadn't meant to say anything, but the words came out before she could stop them. Aidan's brother looked up, noticing her for the first time.

"You know it?" Pale green eyes and regarded her with interest.

"Um, I picked it up last week, but haven't finished it."

"What did you think of that section on the development of programmable work-drones? It's—"

"Put the technical chatter on hold for just a moment, man," Aidan interrupted. "Zoi, I keep telling you that you should at least know a girl's name before you talk circles around her. So, allow me to make introductions. Zoi, this is Ami," he glanced over at her for confirmation, and she nodded. "Ami, this is my brother Kai the Second, also known as Zoisite. Call him Zoi, though, we all do."

He grabbed both their wrists before either had time to react, and puppet-mastered a handshake between. "So, now that you've properly met, I'll leave you to your widgets and quantum technobabble. Have fun!"

He jogged off, leaving a slightly stunned Ami in his wake. She clutched her book in her hands, eyeing her strawberry-blond companion shyly.

"Sorry about that," Zoi apologized, his previous train of thought derailed. He patted the sand next to him in an invitation to sit. "Jade tends to steamroller people when he's not paying attention, because he can't always read body language."

"Jade?" Ami inquired, settling on his left.

"Oh! Sorry. I go by my middle name at home, to avoid confusion, but Aidan turned it into a nickname a few years back. I started calling him Jade in revenge, and the habit stuck. His middle name's Jadeite. And before you ask, yes, our parents are a bit odd." He gave her the half-smile of one resigned to certain unchangeable aspects of life.

Mind racing, Ami automatically smiled back. It had been a few years, but the names of people who had once tried to kill you tended to stick in a person's memory. But… his eyes were clear, and free from cruelty. And just as water rippled when vibrations disturbed its tranquility, Ami had painstakingly developed a natural empathic sense that warned her when a situation was somehow wrong. She felt no such uneasiness now.

"Um…" She kicked her brain into a functioning gear. "If you're looking for odd parents, Usagi and Mamoru are going to name their first daughter after Usagi. Her name will probably degenerate into something like Mini-Usa, knowing the way her mother thinks."

Zoi laughed, and whatever tension had been in the air seemed to dissipate.

"So what's your interest in computing?" He asked as the volleyball game began. "I study mechanical design rather than programming at the university — hardware instead of software, I guess — but try to keep up in as many areas as possible." He waved his book in vague support of the statement.

"Oh, I'm studying to be a doctor. Computers are, well, a hobby."

"Quite an involved hobby, then." He grinned at her embarrassed nod. "Don't worry, I'm the same way. Jade keeps telling me I should give up on my obsession with gadgets and become a gardener."

Sakura blossoms…

"You have a green thumb?"

"Green thumb, green mind… plants like me. They're very relaxing, don't you think?"

"Yes, I suppose, but I've never gotten on very well with them. I usually swim to relax."

"Ah! I wondered…" He indicated her slim build with a flick of his wrist. "I had narrowed you down to either a swimmer or a dancer, but I couldn't decide."

She blushed, pulling her legs up to hug her knees. It was an automatic defense mechanism, both to cover her suddenly over-exposed torso, and to present a smaller target. "Why didn't you want to join in the game?" She asked, trying to change the subject.

"I don't care much for the sport. Or sports in general, really. I practice jujitsu instead. Good one, Kael!" He called towards the court, where the other man had executed a powerful spike. "Anyway, you never got the chance to answer my first question. Did you think there was any merit to the automaton theories?"

The conversation transitioned into a heavily technical dialogue, much to Ami's relief. She felt more comfortable with a topic she was familiar with, and her shyness slowly melted away in the heat of intellectual argument. It was strange to realize, which she did only in a vague, behind-the-scenes part of her mind, but she felt most at ease interacting with Zoi when they were verbally sparring.

But even as they debated everything from robots to music to the best technical specs for a laptop — she favored portability and long battery life, he preferred big screens and high-quality graphics cards — personal details kept coming up.

Like how her parent's were divorced, and she remembered everything she'd ever read but couldn't learn a thing from only listening to a lecture, and her favorite color was blue.

How he once spent 16 hours straight in a lab tinkering with a design, then another 16 hours playing video games with Aidan, had read whole dictionaries and encyclopedias straight through for fun, and was afraid of sharks and allergic to cucumbers.

How they both had learned self-confidence in themselves and their abilities with the help and encouragement of their friends. Feared being a failure, or having a disaster be all their fault. Hated to lose.

"I still can't believe you've never played console video games!" Zoi lamented again, proving to Ami that for all his intellect, he was still a gaming otaku. "Video arcades are well and good, but the fine art of role-playing cannot be neglected!"

"Usagi and Minako play them sometimes, but they prefer racing games…"

"Ha! Jade loves those too. Say…why don't you all come over for a game night sometime? Jade'd love the competition, and you could just hang out and watch, too, if you wanted." He smiled hopefully.

"I — I'm really busy, but," she hastened to add at his crestfallen look, "I'll ask the girls. They're usually dependable kidnappers."

It took him a moment to process the statement, but then his face broke into a grin. "Great!"

"Oi! Lovebirds!" Ami's face turned crimson, but Zoi just sighed.

"Again, sorry about him," he apologized, waving at where the game had just broken up. "Jade's never had much tact."

He stood and gave her a hand up, and they joined the exhausted players for dinner, with Minako's team celebrating their hard-won victory. Zoi got pulled into the rumble of conversation, and Ami fell back into her habit of mostly listening to everyone else, letting part of her mind wander.

He hadn't exactly asked her out, but ever since Usagi and Minako had spent half a sleepover explaining boys' behavior around girls, she had been able to recognize signs of attraction. She felt oddly not-panicked by the realization. Really, he wasn't bad himself, and it had been so refreshing to have someone to talk about the latest technology with…

"Ami, you want a drink?" Pulled out of her thoughts, she nodded at Makoto and accepted a water bottle.

She glanced across the makeshift circle, where Zoi was laughing at a deadpan comment from Kael. The setting sun was adding red-gold highlights his hair. Ami realized she had been staring when he looked her way, but he only smiled.

She smiled back. Maybe she could find that empty evening herself, rather than letting the girls clear her calendar for her.

A night without studying would do her good.

Fin. (Really!)

– – – – –

Notes:

Don't ask why the dynamic between Ami and Zoisite vaguely resembles the way Rei and Jadeite are so often portrayed. It just… wrote itself this way. I think it's more true to the actual personalities of the Shitennou, really, from what I've been able to glean about them. Jadeite is really much more capable of seriousness than fanfiction lets on…

Credit also goes to Spirit-hime's very helpful personality analyses on Peppermint Storm. They helped create the necessary character perspectives for me to write from.

As I wrote Zoisite and Jadeite, it hit me that I was pulling a lot of their character details from different facets of my brother's personality. The word young Jadeite mangles in the first chapter is Asperger's Syndrome. Such people tend to have high intellectual ability but some difficulty with non-vocal cues (and ideas like tact). Zoisite's over-focused ADD lets him focus on a single project or problem without distraction, but multi-tasking is a painstakingly developed skill, as is pulling him away from the current task at hand. There's a lot more to it, especially since I tried to separate something that I've only ever seen in person combined, but that's a brief explanation. Most of the technical information comes from listening to my brother Geek Out over all the new and pretty electronics he acquires. They say to write what you know, but I never expected to be taking it so literally…

Don't ask where the cucumbers came from. I really don't know.

Ocianne

6/06; 9/06


End file.
